11 Letter Bipolar Magic Word

Hi,

Today I want to talk to you about:

AN 11 LETTER BIPOLAR MAGIC WORD!

Now, I know I’m always telling you there are no magic words when it comes to bipolar disorder, so before you get out the rocks and start stoning me, let me explain! You will want to hear about this word, believe me! And you would never guess this 11 letter word, so I’ll just go ahead and tell you what it is:

CONSISTENCY

Bet you’d have never guessed that was the word, huh? But this one word is magical in the sense

that when it comes to bipolar disorder it carries a lot of power with it.

Just like the story of the tortoise and the hare, and the lesson that you learned about “slow and steady wins the race,” you must then follow it with consistency.

Consistency in the thesaurus uses other synonyms for it, like:

• symmetry

• clearness

• uniformity

• agreement

• connection

• tenacity

• conformity

I think I would add another word to that list: balance.

One of the definitions of consistency is persistence.

So if you put all that together, you get someone who is persistent in their goals, who has a real connection and conformity to their treatment. You see where I’m going with this?

You need to be consistent with your treatment to be successful at managing your bipolar

disorder.

Actually, I’ll take it a step further, and talk to supporters – you have to be consistent as well,

with your own “program”, your own regimen or routine, so that you can be successful as well.

Someone famous said, “If you believe it, you can achieve it.” But you cannot achieve it by sitting at home just thinking about it.

You CAN achieve it by using CONSISTENCY and persistency, though!

There are many times when the supporter has to believe in their loved one more than they

believe in themselves. Bipolar disorder can be a very discouraging disorder. And sometimes your loved one can feel as if they’re never going to recover, or never even achieve stability.

You can encourage them by telling them about CONSISTENCY.

And how being consistent can keep you from having bipolar episodes and eventually become

stable.

It would also help if you were consistent yourself. If you have consistency (or balance) in your own life, you will be a better supporter, and a good example for your loved one.

The ones with bipolar disorder that have been able to achieve stability are those who were able to be consistent in their lives. They keep a balance to their recovery. They take their medication the way they are supposed to. They follow their treatment plan – They go to all their appointments when scheduled.

They go along with what their doctor, psychiatrist, and therapist say, but they also realize that they are a part of their own treatment team, and they speak up when they need to.

This, I believe, is what leads to stability.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave

  1. Dear Dave and readers, Lynn S. here, recovered alcoholic. And I live w/Bipolar II, one day @ a time.
    They keep a balance to their recovery.

    I’ve learned these things fm. therapy, A.A., and this column. Thanks for the excellent reminder, however. I ‘don’t do’ blogs, so if you wanna reach me, it’s:
    sawyer7952@yahoo.com
    Have a gr8 24!!
    Lynn S.

  2. Part II.

    (For some reason, the rest of these didn’t pick up. So I’ll try again.)
    Lynn S.

  3. Part III.
    Still didn’t work. But I was tryin’ to include those ways we can take care of ourselves, and have ‘balance.’ Must be a feature not included here.
    Thanks, anyways.
    Lynn S.

  4. When I recieved your email Dave on how to be well with BiPolar. Your 11 letter word..CONSISTENCY…I read it over very slowly and more than once. I know what you mean..but it is very difficult to do be consistent with having BiPolar if you are alone. I have my meds done up by the Pharmacy in bubble packs. Now I really assume that I am taking my meds but by the end of the month, I have meds left over. I thought I was taking them as ordered…but I must have forgotten them. How can I be consistent..when I forget. Part of being BiPolar is loss of memory. I have spoken with my Pyschiatrist about this and he reafirmed that it is. So as much as I would love to be consistent in many ways of my life…It is so difficult when I cannot even remember..to take pills that are right there in front of me. There are a lot of other areas in my life that I struggle with as far as consistency. I dont know if there are others out there like me that find consistency so difficult that when you talked about it…I automaticaly felt like a failure. David, I am 57 years old and have been struggling with bipolar since I was 40. I have been trying so many things to help me and sometimes they may work for a while but then I fall on my face. Biploar is a difficult thing to live with and hard for your family to live with you.
    I now live alone..and my siblings find it so difficult to deal with me sometimes that they choose to stay away.
    I feel so alone..as even my children choose to not come around as much as i would like..so i dont get to see my grandbabies. Having Bipolar is a curse that we with it struggle and I wish consistency was much easier than it sounds. DAVE…I guess for me..I need to keep trying..as sometimes I just feel like throwing in the towel. Sad in British Columbia, Cananda

  5. My boyfriend and I have had a great time for about 10 weeks. Everything was going in the right direction. With my help and support he was getting on well and he knew and appreciated that. We were both so happy. Then out of the blue someone stirred up trouble and stress for him and destroyed everything. Now he has turned his back on me again, says he wants to be left alone. Not sure who is more depressed right now – him or me. He is definitely in a down mood and it happened over night. Last week he said he loved me, would never hurt me again and trusted only me. Now he is pushing me away again. I hate bipolar disorder.

  6. To EVERYBODY: Because of what happened last weekend, I’m going to use this forum to be a memorial to my dearest friend, Jim. His mther caled me Friday, and asked if I heard about Jim. “Jim has gone to Heaven.” I felt as if I had been sucker punched.,I’ve known, and loved, him since we were in the Bipolar Support Group in 1984, after his st suicide attempt, and I was getting married. We had instant chemistry, and a physical relationship developed.. 5 year kkklater, when my husband died, Jim drove to my farm to take me to dinner on several occasions. In 1990, he moved basement apartment of my apartment house, and he came and fixed it up, and stayed for 8 years.The hard part of loving,he was arapid cycler, and his mood swings were VERY extreme. One time, when taken to the hospita in a crisis, he trashed the ER room they put him in. The only side of Jim I saw was his depressive episodes. When he was normal, he was romantic to a fault. He’d come up to my apartment, and we’d have some wine, crackers and cheese, and watch a DVD before going to bed. Oh, Lord, WHY do you persecute the finest of us??? We lost touch in th mid-90s, but reconnected in 2000; Because of our volatile natures, we decided NOT to continue in a physical way, but be closer than brother and sister. Our delusions meshed when we were “high,” and we did some crazy stuff listening to the songs on the radio, and flaming out. But all good things must come to an end. He decided to move south of here to help with his elderly parents. He’d come up every 6 weeks or so, take m out to lunch, and slip me a $20 or $50.out of the goodness of his soul. He had once been a missionary who smuggled Bibles into China!!! I’m unable to travel to his funeral, but I sent a handwritten sympathy card to his parents. I miss him already. Since the inception of his illness, all Jim wanted was to rest n the arms of the Lord. He is there, now, and I miss him already. Knowing that he is finally at peace makes his death somewohat more sensible. He was 60 years old, and had played the hand he was dealt. Sometimes ha even had me fooled. Jim boy, we hardly knew ye…RIP, and bless your heart.

    NOW, a WORD of CAUTION: Suicide is NEVER the correct solution to your problem. As the saying goess, IT’S A PERMANENT SOLUTION TO A TEMPORARY PROBLEM. If you feel strongly enough that you want to end your life, DON’T hesitate to call the Emergency Suicide Hot Line. The people there are trained to deal with YOUR problem, so don’t be afraid to contact them. And ALWAYS tell someone when you’re feeling suicidal. Being alone is condusive to suicide ideation. I know thee are times you feel you just can’t cope, but there are solutions to EVERY problem. I don’t know about you, but given the choice, I choose LIFE, with all it’s ups and downs. Find someone to LOVE, and call on God for his peace…

    BIG HUGS all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I continue to pray for my country.

  7. SUZANNE, your comment just made me cry. It is so sad and terrible to lose such a close friend. It has also got me thinking that my current problems aren’t as bad as some other people’s. I also feel that while my boyfriend wants to be left alone at the moment slipping deeper into a depressive episode, I may need to “interfere” and get him help. Recently his psych reduced his anti-depressants fearing that he could go manic again, while at the time he was just genuinely happy. Now something happened to stress him and drag him down and someone (me) should have a word with his doctor. Suzanne, you have always been the best example of what a bipolar survivor can achieve to be. I wish my man was half as sensible as you. He sounds a little like Jim. I am trying to organise some holistic therapy for him, which will deal with other issues before getting to the bipolar. He has been through some dreadful events in the past and lost his brother to bipolar suicide. I believe he may have PTSD as well as bipolar. Must be upsetting for you that as a close friend and lover you can’t get to Jim’s funeral. On the other hand it maybe best for you to just be there in spirit.

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